Top 120 Nnedi Okorafor Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “As I have repeated incessantly throughout this book, there is no direction you can turn that does not face you toward certain death.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

102. “Edgar never used the rhythm to do violence again. But when he got on stage, when he rapped and let the words flow from his tongue like warmed honey, he could feel it. It would be there when he needed it. So far, he hadn’t needed it.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

103. “Some of our old ways are better forgotten, but not all of them.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

104. “Anthony was calm as an underground river. Father Oke was a volcano ready to erupt.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

105. “Trouble is never hard to find.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

106. “There was always so much I didn’t know, but not knowing was part of it all.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

107. “Suicide is death on purpose!”

— Nnedi Okorafor

108. “If there was one thing I had learned in all my strange journeys it was that what would be would be and sometimes you wait to see.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

109. “Stay out of trouble. Be positive forces to the world.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

110. “You might have liked the United States more,”” she said. “They’ve got more stuff. And if your spaceship is broken, they can probably fix it better.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

111. “Just because you are American does not make you American.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

112. “You fit get me inside dere?” he asked, his voice lusty in her ear. “I go try, baby,” she whispered.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

113. “All of them watched the footage, even Fisayo. After it finished, none of them said a word, yet in their minds, they saw plenty. Jacobs saw an end to living with parents who refused to accept him. His sister Fisayo saw all of Lagos in flames. Seven saw infinite possibilities and a people from outer space that could make the world embrace and love everyone. Rome saw the rise of Rome.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

114. “Why don’t I ever want to do what I’m supposed to do?”

— Nnedi Okorafor

115. “Beauty does not need a reason,” Okwu responded.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

116. “Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

117. “Fear of failure leads to more failure!”

— Nnedi Okorafor

118. “Your generation has lost the art of proverb, the gift of wordplay, the science of fiction, the jujuism of the African,” he said picking up the joint he’d placed on the sand beside him.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

119. “I wanted to ask, ‘Why did you let this happen?’ but that was blasphemy. You never ask why. It was not a question for you to ask.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

120. “She’s the adopted child of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind her. Death guards her like one of its own.” There was truth in every single one of the stories.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

121. “When you do math fractals long enough, you kick yourself into treeing just enough to get lost in the shallows of the mathematical sea.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

122. “Superstitions are like stereotypes in a lot of ways. Not only are they based on fear and ignorance, they are also blended with fact.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

123. “People treat it with more respect than they treat any police officer. Maybe because the robot is polite, helpful and never asks for bribes.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

124. “They say that when faced with a fight you cannot win, you can never predict what you will do next.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

125. “When I should have reveled in this gift, instead, I’d seen myself as broken. But couldn’t you be broken and still bring change?”

— Nnedi Okorafor

126. “She loved this tree so much and every so often, it seemed to love her back, too, its leaves looking greener in the sunshine than any other tree.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

127. “You’re smaller than I imagined you,” she said with a smirk. She took a puff from her cigarette and exhaled the smoke. It smelled sweet and heady. This was the type of cigarette that made people see God, slowed time and attracted happiness. “Maybe your imagination is not big enough,” Sankofa said.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

128. “I knew I could always return to my books. Not escape, return. I knew so much, but so little. You can have knowledge, but you are nothing without wisdom.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

129. “These roads are full of ghosts.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

130. “She slurped her coffee loudly. “If you hide forever, you’ll never find anything.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

131. “Why did you call me over?” Sankofa asked. The woman crossed her arms over her chest, inspecting Sankofa as if she were the daughter of her best friend. “I like to look into the eyes of hurricanes,” she said.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

132. “I saw the White House while it was still worth seeing.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

133. “This was the type of cigarette that made people see God, slowed time and attracted happiness.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

134. “Does the soul transform too? Adaora wondered. She’d never believed in God, but she was a scientist and knew that matter could be neither created nor destroyed. It just changed form.”

— Nnedi Okorafor

135. “Who are the big eye? Are they a secret part of the American government or a powerful private corporation? Is there a difference?”

— Nnedi Okorafor